


The One About Diana And Jerry

by wipchive (orphan_account)



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Angst, Birthday, Birthday Party, Character Death, F/M, Fake Character Death, Feelings, Marriage Proposal, almost, but not really, diana's parents are assholes, i am never going to finish this, jerry is going to propose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:08:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26832685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/wipchive
Summary: He’d bear his mother’s glittering emerald ring and bear his soul in the same fell swoop. He’d tell Diana how unspeakably, unchangeably, and unflinchingly in love with her he is━and she would kiss him.She would kiss him and they would be together, and it would be the happiest night of Jerry Baynard’s entire life.But, imagination can only carry a man so far.This time, it doesn’t even carry Jerry past the front door.Or, as their parents’ social statuses grow further and further apart, they pull their children apart as well, despite the fierce resistance from diana and jerry. when jerry announces his intention to court and marry diana, with plans to start a new business and make a real name for himself, to provide for them both, the barrys climb to desperate measures to keep the two apart━on the night of a party thrown by jerry for diana herself, word comes from the barrys that diana has passed away in a tragic carriage accident. destroyed, jerry withdraws himself from the world; but what if that fateful night had been fabricated by the very people who were trying so desperately to force their futures to conform to their own ideals?
Relationships: Diana Barry/Jerry Baynard
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	The One About Diana And Jerry

**Author's Note:**

> here is a disclaimer: this is all that's ever going to be written for this. have fun

  
  
  
  
“Father?” Diana asks groggily from the backseat of their extravagant carriage. She lifts her head from where it had been resting against the glass window pane during her brief nap. “Where are we? Are we nearly there?”

Her Father and Mother exchange a wary look between one another. Diana does not miss it. 

“What is it?” she asks, growing alarmed. 

Her inquiry is met by silence. 

“Have we taken a wrong turn?” she continues to wonder. Worry grows in the pit of her stomach, and she fiddles with the fine lace of her dress━green, Jerry’s favorite color. “Will we be late?” 

“Diana,” begins her Mother. Her tone places a solid weight of dread right at the base of Diana’s throat; something is terribly amiss. “We won’t be going to the party.”

For a stunned moment, Diana is utterly silent. Then, she speaks again.

“Won’t be going?” she guffaws; already, her patience is worn thin with her parents. Must they  _ always _ meddle in matters that involved Jerry? Couldn’t they, for once, allow her this one night━the night of his birthday, for all sake━to be with him without corruption? 

“Won’t be  _ going _ _?”_ Diana repeats, astounded. “It is his  _ birthday _ party! He has been planning this for months, no doubt, and made doubly certain to give us all a fair amount of warning.” A frown creases her brow. Surely her Mother would be quick to comment any other time about wrinkling, but Diana barely allows time for her own breath in the midst of her rant. “I can’t believe this! I’m to go to finishing school within the next two days, and you will not allow me to see Jerry━to see my  _ friends _ ━once more before I go? Are you truly that wretched?”

“Diana━” interrupts her Father, appalled. 

“No!” she exclaims, indignant. “If you will not take me to the party… I will simply go by myself. I will not be kept from Jer━from my  _ friends _ on this night that you  _ promised me━” _

“Diana,” she is interrupted again, this time by her Mother. Face red as a beet, Diana huffs, her eyebrows raised in anger and defiance. Normally, she would never dare to pull a stunt like this━but desperation was a fickle thing, and she simply could not leave their island without saying goodbye to Jerry, one last time. 

“We aren’t going,” says her Mother; she raises a hand to silence Diana as the girl rears to anger again. “Because the party has been cancelled.”

A steep silence falls upon the carriage. 

“What?” 

“Jerry’s party,” repeats her Mother, as calm and as poised as ever. “Has been cancelled.”

Diana keeps silent, entirely baffled; she’s nearly able to brush off the way that her Mother speaks his name, even after all this time━like he’s nothing more than a stable boy, a farm hand, a stain on the Barry’s ever-so-pristine reputation. Like he isn’t their eldest daughter’s dearest and truest friend, and perhaps the great love of her very life. 

Like he isn’t  _ everything _ to her. 

“He wrote us the other day,” says her Father now. He glances sidelong at his wife, that strange wary look clouding his gaze in the twilight. “We thought it best to refrain from telling you for the time being, as you were so… excited.”

Diana mumbles, “You thought it  _ best. _ ”

“No use dwelling on it now, dear,” clips her Mother impertinently. “Where one door closes, another always opens.” 

Frowning, Diana looks up at her. “Whatever do you mean, Mother?”

“Your Mother and I,” says her Father. “Have made some rearrangements on your behalf. We took the tragic opportunity that was Jerry’s cancelling to speak with the good folk at the train station━they graciously agreed to change your ticket, and so late in the game!”

“Isn’t it wonderful, dear?” smiles her Mother.

“But,” Diana shakes her head. “But, what of Jerry? Did he say  _ why _ he cancelled, or… did he━”

“Nevermind that now, dear.” her Mother interrupts once more. “It is imperative to place your past where it belongs in the wake of such a bright future: far behind you.”

“I don’t…” Diana stammers. She tugs at the elegant white lace on her pretty green dress. She was going to look so beautiful under Aunt Josephine’s most regal electric lighting. She was going to dance with Jerry on his beloved birthday, her white lace and green satin shimmering beautifully against his olive skin. She was going to do so much━why on earth had he cancelled? “I don’t understand.” 

“Just think of it, sweet Diana,” soothes her Mother. “Why, this time tomorrow you’ll be all settled into your new home for the next coming years.”

“What?” Diana’s gaze snaps up, heart instantly thundering. “What are you talking about?” 

“The people at the train station have amended your boarding ticket for two days from now,” explains her Father, smiling cheerfully. “They’ve placed you on an overnight train━we are to arrive on the mainland by midmorning tomorrow!”

Diana’s vision tunnels. 

“You━ but━ but my friends, I,” she gasps softly, tears welling in her eyes. “I haven’t even said goodbye.”

“Yes, well,” sniffs her Mother. “As I’ve said before: no time to dwell on the past now. I’m sure you can write them dear.” Her Mother reaches over to pat the top of her hands, and Diana’s fingers cease their twisting in the fabric of her dress at once. Her chest feels wound quite tightly, as if she were wearing a corset, even though she is still too young━only 16. 

Just like Jerry. On the night of his birthday. 

“Can’t━” Diana chokes on the air that struggles its way out of her throat. She feels utterly trapped in this newfound situation, one she hadn’t even consented to. “Can’t we turn back? I’m sure I can still say goodbye, a-and it isn’t too late to wish Jerry a happy birthday, surely we can━”

“Diana, dear,” smiles her Father. “We simply cannot turn back.” 

“Why not?” she cries, on the verge of begging. 

“Because darling,” says her Mother, wearing her saccharine, false smile. “We’re already here.”

When Diana looks out of the carriage window, she sees lanterns lit all around, and a handful of people flitting about. To one side, there are tracks below, and a train set upon the ones closest to them. 

They are at the train station. 

  
  
  


━ 

  
  
  


“Jerry!”

Everything is in order. Aunt Josephine, the saint, had laid everything practically on a silver platter for him━she’d pulled out all the stops with a real caterer, displaying fine and hearty dishes on her lengthy dining table. Jerry’s family had all been invited as well, of course, and they doddled around the table picking at all of the food, the likes of which they had never seen so much of before, all in one place. His youngest siblings ran about the manse, and though Jerry attempted to scold them, tell them to act more _ proper _ in the midst of Aunt Josephine’s fine home, she constantly scolded  _ him _ instead. 

“Let them enjoy it,” she’d say good-naturedly, pinching Jerry on his cheek. “This is your day━don’t you worry about a thing.”

Ah, but he worried. 

Truthfully, it wasn’t really  _ his _ day, not at all; not if his mother’s emerald ring had anything to say about it. The band seemed to weigh down his pants pockets like a ship’s anchor. It felt like it’d rip its way right through, dragging him down to the floor with it. 

He looked nice. That, he wasn’t worried about at least. Tonight had been the one night he’d let his mother carefully comb out his hair, and fret over the state of his clothes━a hand-me-down suit from his eldest brother, and simultaneously the nicest article owned by their entire family. 

Diana would say,  _ it does not matter what you wear, as long as it is  _ you _ in it. _ It’d make him blush, but for once not with shame━with warmth, and nothing but. He tried to hold on to that mimic of her careful voice in his mind now, when his shame threatened to pull him under tide and keep him there until he drowned. 

When Diana wasn’t near him, it was easy to sink back into those feelings: shameful feelings that pestered him, and begged him to recall his class, recall his lack of education, recall his gawky manner and his hand-me-down clothes and his shaggy hair. 

Jerry was so, so afraid. 

When Diana wasn’t near, she was all he could think about, in any form of the word. He’d think about her pretty face, those supple cheeks just begging to be peppered with kisses. He’d think about her soft hair, think about her eyes simply teeming with warmth and compassion. But often, those thoughts would sour━how could he bear to be near her? How could he dare to tarnish her shining existence with his tatters and his troubles? 

It was so easy to be with her, when she was near to remind him that she would never, ever mind. 

_ You are who you are, Jerry, _ she would say, smiling like the sun itself.  _ How could anyone possibly fault you for that? _

What was harder was when she wasn’t. Like now, as doubt crept in. 

_ I like you as you are: kind, and careful, and bright.  _

There would never be a brighter sight than Diana Barry and her beautiful smile. 

“Jerry! Come over here!” Anne called again. Jerry glances once more toward the front doors of the manse, biting his lip in anxiety. He turns to meet Anne.

She sits in the parlor beside Cole at the piano. Since living with Aunt Josephine, Cole had picked up many a talent, alongside his ever-improving artwork. At the time being, he’d taken a fondness for piano. Of course, Anne had insisted at once to be taught, which is what transpired now, as they called for him. 

“What’s going on here?” Jerry tries for a lighthearted tone despite his anticipation for Diana’s arrival. With effort, he stifles the thickest parts of his French accent; he’d been working on that a lot lately. If he was going to be a respectable man, own a business, win over Diana’s parents━if he was going to do any of that, then he needed to do it with a dignified voice. The voice of a bona fide man.

“Look at what Cole has just taught me!” Anne whirls delightedly back around to face the pianos, and begins striking the keys with some finesse as Cole smiles warmly at her. When she’s finished, they both clap for her, and she takes several exaggerated bows. 

“Diana hasn’t arrived yet?” asks Anne, glancing around. The mere mention of her name sends Jerry’s heart spiralling, but he maintains his composure for now. He shakes his head. “That’s so strange, she was  _ most _ excited to arrive the last time I spoke with her.” 

Jerry’s face betrays him with a small smile, and both Anne and Cole fix him with equally mischievous looks. 

“What is that face?” frowns Jerry. “I don’t like that face.” 

Anne and Cole giggle amongst one another. Anne rises, and places a hand on Jerry’s shoulder━her smile is pure fire, just as her hair. It’s the look of a girl who is absolutely certain of something, even if she doesn’t quite know what it is just yet. 

Jerry is grateful that they’ve remained friends━his very first friend in Avonlea. He’d been worried for a while, but everything had smoothed over, and more so things between them had never been better. He felt luckier than anything, to have Anne’s approval; at the very least, it was wages better than being disapproved of by one Anne Shirley-Cuthbert. He smiles at her, and she smiles back. 

“I just know she’s going to love this,” she whispers to him. His heart threatens to spill over. “Nearly as much as she loves you yourself.” 

After that, Jerry goes to sit by the door. 

He can’t quite bear standing much longer, otherwise he’ll start to pace. Funny━his own party, and he’s sat up by the door like a puppy put out in the cold, gazing at the doors like they’ll open to a warm hug and a bowl of water. 

Diana feels like that: a warm hug, a refreshment, a comfort from the cold. 

He should feel pathetic━and he does, in a way; pathetically and terribly in love, with nothing to do with himself but to wait for her to arrive so that he can bear his heart and hope she’ll accept. 

God, he hopes she’ll accept. 

Jerry is so afraid, more than he’s ever been. 

He fingers the ring in his pocket once more, letting the cold of the metal soothe his racing pulse. From the dining room, his mother grants him a calming smile. It works for a spell, but the longer he waits the more wound up he gets, so the comfort is fleeting. 

For a moment, Jerry channels Anne’s vivid imagination, and he pictures the moment she walks through the door. 

Diana, in all her radiant glory, beaming at him as she enters the mansion. They’d come together and embrace, despite all of the people milling about, despite Diana’s hardly approving parents. Jerry would sweep her into a hug, and her eyes would do that quiet glistening thing they did only when she gazed at him. He’d melt and melt again, but he’d hold his ground. He’d guide her inside and show her off to the rest of the party. He’d look to his friends as they smiled at her and think,  _ yes, that’s my girl, isn’t she beautiful, isn’t she so beautiful? _

Then, they’d dance. They’d dance even though Jerry is clumsy and awkward, because Diana loved to do it, and he loved to see her love it. Their friends would all smile and join them, and they’d laugh as the children darted between their legs as they ran through the parlor. 

Aunt Josephine would look on in that calm way she always did when she was looking after the people she loved. Jerry would look to Diana’s Father, and he’d nod as if to say,  _ go on son. _ And there, in the middle of the parlor, amongst their swirling, dancing friends, amongst smiles and laughter and nothing but love, he’d drop to his knee and propose. 

He’d bear his mother’s glittering emerald ring and bear his soul in the same fell swoop. He’d tell Diana how unspeakably, unchangeably, and unflinchingly in love with her he is━and she would kiss him. 

She would kiss him and they would be together, and it would be the happiest night of Jerry Baynard’s entire life. 

But, imagination can only carry a man so far. 

This time, it doesn’t even carry Jerry past the front door. 

When they knock, Jerry all but falls out of his shoes scrambling to get up and greet them at the door. Rollings beats him to it, of course, as that is his job━but when he opens the door, it isn’t Diana. It isn’t Diana nor her family at all. 

Instead, there’s a young man, and clutched in his hand is a small yellow letter. 

Anne, Cole, and Jerry’s family have all gathered up behind him, surely as eager as he had been to greet Diana at the door. None of them seem privy to the strange deliverance, nor does Aunt Josephine. 

“What’s this?” she asks, passing Jerry to retrieve the letter from the young man. 

“A letter from Mr. William Barry, ma’am.” says the man curtly. “Addressed to one Jerry Baynard━it was said that he is here?”

“I am,” says Jerry. It comes as a whisper, and he tries again. “I’m here.” 

The letter, though light, feels like picking up a flame. For some reason, the parchment burns his skin and turns his stomach to lead. The silence in the manse is deafening, following its previous liveliness. The room is electrified by suspense. 

“Jerry?” his mother calls. He realizes only after a moment that she’s speaking their mother tongue. “What is it, sweet boy?” 

Jerry blinks at them━his family, his friends, dear Aunt Josephine. He realizes the door has been closed, leaving them all alone once more. 

No Diana. No embracing, or laughing, or dancing. Just Jerry and his terrible fear. Why it’s there, he hasn’t a clue. But something… something in him knows. Something deep in him can tell that whatever is in this letter might very well crush him. 

Had Diana’s Father reconsidered his blessing? It had been reluctantly given in the first place, but...?

“Jerry,” says Anne. 

He glances up from the unopened letter just as she takes a step forward. There’s an encouraging smile plastered to her lips, but he knows. He can tell that she feels unrest as well. 

“Open it.” 

With trembling fingers, he does. 

He begins to read aloud. 

“Dearest Jerry Baynard,

“It is with great and… and terrible sorrow that I━” 

Breath catches in the room, though from whom it’s very hard to tell. Jerry is holding his breath even as he reads, that terrible fear seeping deeper into his bones. 

He tries again.

“It is with… great and terrible sorrow,” Jerry swallows. “That I must… I must share this news…” 

He nearly chokes on his own fear, reading each word as it comes. He stumbles a few times, the cursive hard enough to read even if he had afforded a formal education. Jerry takes a deep breath, and this time speaks without pause.

“We had hoped to tell you in person about this tr━ _ tragique  _ incident, but… but felt it d━deer? No,  _ dire _ , to… to tell you the news straight away, a-as keeping you sh━shrouded in mystery would be most cruel. You see, our beloved Diana has━” 

Silence befalls them again. 

Jerry blinks.

“Our beloved Diana has… o-our beloved Diana h━” 

“What, Jerry?” Anne begs, taking another step forward. “What is it?”

Jerry blinks and blinks and blinks again━anything to make what he’s reading go away. 

He chokes on the words, on her name. His throat seizes and his heart constricts, but nothing will allow him to say the words aloud. 

“Our beloved Diana…” he murmurs, never looking up from the letter. “Diana…” 

“Jerry!” Anne insists. She marches forward and takes the letter, reading it aloud in one fell swoop. Jerry doesn’t move an inch. 

_ “It is with great and terrible sorrow that I must share this news. We had hoped to tell you in person about this tragic incident, but felt it dire to tell you the news straight away, as keeping you shrouded in mystery would be most cruel. You see, our beloved Diana has━” _

Anne pauses, stumbles a bit. 

“Oh.” 

“Dear Lord, child,” Aunt Josephine cries. “What  _ is _ it?” 

The letter falls from Anne’s grasp. It floats to the floor at their feet. Jerry can no longer make out the letters, both because they’re too far away and because his eyes have blurred with unshed tears. __

“Died,” says Anne. 

There’s an eerie hollowness to her voice. 

“Our beloved Diana has died.” 

The silence splits their ears. 

The room is awash with disbelief and grief and utter shock, and the only sound that can be heard is a distant muttering from behind Jerry’s lips.

“My dear?” says his mother in gentle French. She tries to step toward him. “Jerry━”

“Diana,” he whispers. It’s a broken, heart-shattering sound, which pulls at the heart even more as it gets louder. “Diana,” he says, blinking away the hollow tears, feeling and unfeeling all at once, entirely and utterly numb━until suddenly, he feels it all. 

_ “Diana.” _

Jerry crumples to his knees, cradling the letter in his open palms like a delicate thing. Like his Diana. His sweet, beautiful, shining Diana. It is almost as if he physically feels her light leave him━like a ghost, lifting itself from his limbs where it had been nestled and living, a warm and comfortable thing absolutely  _ ripped _ from his very soul. 

Jerry crushes the letter between his fingers, and screams.

He screams her name. 

Over, and over, and over again. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> in another life i had the capacity to finish this story! if u wanted to know how it was meant to end: 
> 
> after they deliver the news, jerry becomes horribly depressed and throws himself into his work. two years after coming of age and losing the love of his life, he moves to the mainland to start his business, adorned with the new name: diana’s bookstore. 
> 
> meanwhile, diana, having been very much alive, was forced to travel to a boarding school on the mainland. she writes letters to jerry almost biweekly, though she never hears back; one fateful afternoon during a visit from her parents, her father produces a letter, hand-delivered from jerry himself━telling diana that he never loved her nor intended to marry her, and that he’d found a new bride and moved to america. the letter is closed by saying that he wants her to cease writing to him, and that he wishes her well with the rest of her life. 
> 
> heartbroken, diana forces her parents to remove her from finishing school and re-enroll her into an actual university, where she throws herself into her studies alongside anne, who has moved to the mainland to study journalism. they meet again only 3 years after that fateful night of the party, both with misconceptions of the other’s current state of being: diana, dead. jerry, married.
> 
> neither is true obviously, which is relieving to discover━but the two still have a long journey of healing ahead of them if they ever want to make things work again. (spoiler alert: they make it work.)


End file.
